In modern internal combustion engines, complex turbo-charging architectures are gaining importance in the effort to reduce engine displacements while maintaining or increasing power output. Demands for acceptable engine transient response, fuel economy, and lowered emissions can complicate design challenges for engine manufacturers. Parallel sequential charging systems are the most attractive for multibank engines from a cost and packaging perspective but still face packaging and cost challenges compared to single stage charging systems.
Attempts to meet these simultaneous challenges have included incorporating a plurality of turbo-charging components (e.g., twin turbo-chargers) each being dedicated to an associated bank of engine cylinders (i.e., cylinder banks). Further developments have included providing fluid coupling among the exhaust systems of separate engine cylinder banks. Unfortunately, however, as a desire has arisen to integrate conventional exhaust manifold components into the cylinder head, access to the separate exhaust streams upstream of turbo-machinery to provide exhaust communication between separate engine banks has become especially complicated and has resulted in increased cost.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an improved turbine housing for use in a parallel-sequential turbo-charging system providing for reduced cost, complexity, and component count of the parallel-sequential turbo-charging system while facilitating its use with engines having integrated exhaust system architectures.